Too Quiet
by nanniships
Summary: Chelsie children! The Bates family interrupt Mr. Carson's day, but he doesn't mind too much. For the fabulous kouw on her birthday!


**A little birthday prezzie for the fabulous kouw, who hinted that she likes Chelsie + children. Enjoy!**

Too Quiet

 _Six bottles of the '06… nine of the Burgundy, although I can't imagine we'll be getting any more from THAT supplier…five of the—_

Mr. Charles Carson's soothing interior monologue was broken yet again by the sounds of small, pounding feet and then a sudden, high pitched wail. With a irritated growl, he stomped to the door of his pantry and threw it open.

"Just what is going on out here?" he bellowed, making three children freeze in their tracks. His eyebrows flew up at the tableau of William Bates desperately holding onto his brother's collar while trying at the same time to lift his little sister off of the floor. Eddie Bates was frantically tugging against his brother's grip and little Maggie was weeping and holding her elbow like her arm would fall off if she let go.

At Mr. Carson's shout, William turned and released his brother, making Eddie fall heavily to the floor. That, at least, distracted Maggie from her woes momentarily.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Carson," William said contritely, wincing as the imposing butler tugged at his waistcoat and lowered beetled brows at the children.

"And I'm sorry, Mr. Carson," came a sprightly brogue from behind him. "I invited the children to visit today while Mr. Bates and Anna work on packing up the rest of the cottage." Mrs. Hughes looked sternly at the children, especially at Eddie still lying on the floor, hoping that the theory of playing dead during a bear attack would be equally applicable in the face of an angry butler. "They weren't meant to be running through the corridors, though."

Maggie, feeling like she was being neglected, began to cry in earnest again. Mrs. Hughes took a step towards her to scoop her up, but found her way blocked by the broad back of Mr. Carson as he knelt down to take the three year old's arm in his hand.

Eddie thought that might be a good moment to creep away to the linen cupboards for an hour or so, but a brief piercing glare from Mrs. Hughes made him drop his face onto the floor again.

"There now," Mr. Carson rumbled gently as he turned her arm slightly to examine the scrape. "You've been in the wars, haven't you, Miss Margaret Bates."

She nodded vigorously, sniffling, and pointed at Eddie. "Knocked me down."

"Did he now? That was a careless thing to do, wasn't it?"

"She took my lead soldier," Eddie mumbled into the floor.

William kicked him in the leg. "It never helps when you _say_ anything, Eddie."

Mr. Carson made a hurumphing sound in the direction of the boys and looked at Mrs. Hughes. She hid a smile and nodded. Their soundless conversation over, Mr. Carson picked up Maggie and bounced her slightly in his arms.

"We'll just get that seen to, then, Miss Bates," he told her, carrying her into his office.

"And I'll see to this," Mrs. Hughes added, crossing her arms and staring expectantly at the boys.

Eddie unleashed a stream of unintelligible self-justification into the floor. William just looked down at him and shook his head.

"Get up off of that floor, Edward Bates," she ordered, "and march yourself into my sitting room. You as well, William."

William reached down and helped a grumbling Eddie off the floor. Heads hung low, they filed into Mrs. Hughes' sitting room.

"Well…" she demanded. "Do you have an explanation?"

Eddie opened his mouth to reply, then shut it at William's glare.

"We were having cake," Williams began. "And Eddie made his soldier march across the table over Maggie's plate. She got mad and snatched the soldier away…" Eddie nodded vigorously. "Eddie tried to get it back, and I followed them when I saw Maggie running down the corridor. Maggie turned around at the bottom of the stairs and Eddie caught her up. When he tried to take the soldier back, he knocked her down and she skint herself."

"That soldier was so important that you knocked your baby sister down over it?" she demanded of Eddie.

"Yes!" he affirmed eagerly.

Mrs. Hughes rolled her eyes and nearly smiled when she noticed William doing the same thing. The eleven year old looked like he was going to be as tall as his father someday. She could still see the eager, bright eyed lad who'd come to apply for a footman's position when he was four, making his mother frantic when she couldn't find him at home.

"William, why don't you go and finish your cake," she invited. "Eddie can stay in here a while and think about what he did." At his outraged expression, she shook a finger at him. "You're a big enough lad at nearly seven to know better than to knock down your baby sister."

William slipped out gratefully. With a stern warning to Eddie "not to stir from the chair or there won't be any cake to finish for you," Mrs. Hughes strolled down to Mr. Carson's pantry with the first aid kit to see how he and Maggie were getting on.

Mr. Carson was smiling as Maggie tried to describe what had transpired. He was cleaning her elbow with his handkerchief and nodding with affirming hums as she babbled on. While he had no idea what she was trying to say half the time, he got the gist of it.

"Eddie's mean," she concluded, wrapping up an account that included not just today's incident but a series of events involving her older brother that she felt exhibited a pattern of meanness.

"Shall I take him out to the stables and have him horsewhipped," he asked, innocently.

"No! Don't hurt, Eddie!" she protested, glaring at him fiercely.

"Maybe he should have his pudding taken away at tea," he suggested, smiling at her protectiveness of her "mean Eddie." She pursed her lips thoughtfully, then nodded in agreement.

Mrs. Hughes watched from the door as Mr. Carson distracted Maggie from the sting of her scrape by singing a little ditty about a mean boy who liked to tease and was captured by a gang of cats who pulled his hair, hitched him to a cart, and made him pull the King O Cats around. Maggie clapped her hands and laughed. When Mr. Carson noticed Mrs. Hughes standing in the doorway, listening in amusement to him sing, he stopped and a flush crept up the back of his neck.

"I've brought the first aid kit, if you think you'll need it, Mr. Carson," she said, her lips twitching and her eyes sparkling with delight. It was so rare so catch Mr. Carson out in such an unguarded moment.

"Ah…thank you, Mrs. Hughes," he answered with much clearing of his throat. "I think, perhaps, a small bandage…"

"Let me see it, lassie," she said gently, kneeling down next to the child. Maggie clambered into Mr. Carson's lap and held out her arm warily.

"Hmmm…Maggie?" he began.

"What?" she replied, craning her neck to look up at him.

"Do you think you broke the floor when you fell on it?"

A snort of laughter popped out of Mrs. Hughes at the question, making Mr. Carson smile broadly.

Maggie wrinkled her forehead in thought. "Don't know…"

"There now, all done," Mrs. Hughes said briskly, standing up and smiling at the girl.

"All done!" she answered, showing Mr. Carson the bandage covering her small scrape.

"And very nicely done indeed," he replied. "Better thank Mrs. Hughes."

"T'ank you, Missus Hues," she parroted obediently.

"You're very welcome," she said as she held out her arms to pick her up.

"One moment, Mrs. Hughes," Mr. Carson said, rummaging through his coat pocket. "A brave patient deserves a reward…ah ha!" Fishing out a crumpled bag, he opened it and offered Maggie a peppermint. She took it with a large smile.

"If you're feeling better, Maggie, perhaps you'd like to go back to William in the Servant's Hall and finish your cake?" Mrs. Hughes suggested.

Thinking that was fine idea, Maggie climbed down from Mr. Carson's lap and headed for the door. She stopped, turned around and ran back to hug his knees. Then she ran out of the door, calling for William.

Mrs. Hughes sighed and looked over at Mr. Carson, who was smiling while watching Maggie stop in the corridor and scan the floor carefully.

"I'd better go release Eddie…" she murmured.

"Must you," he grunted.

"I can't have him pouting at me in my sitting room all afternoon," she replied. At his glance, she added: "I'll keep them occupied with something, Mr. Carson, so they won't disturb your work again."

"It's of no matter, Mrs. Hughes," he said, flapping his hand distractedly.

She watched him in silence for a moment, as his eyes softened and his face grew pensive.

"I"m going to miss them too, Mr. Carson," she said softly. "Very much."

He drew himself up in his chair, as if he was going to make a dismissive comment about sentimentality. Mrs. Hughes bit her lip as she braced herself for a blustering response.

"Perhaps…perhaps once they get settled in Scarborough, we might pay them all a visit, Mrs. Hughes."

Mrs. Hughes laid her hand on his shoulder and smiled. "That sounds lovely, Mr. Carson."

He watched her as she swept gracefully from his pantry, closing the door lightly behind her. Then he sighed and bent to his wine ledgers again.

Several hours later, as he was on his way to his rooms to change for the evening, he stood at the entrance to the empty Servant's Hall for a moment, remembering the Bates children's goodbyes to him and Mrs. Hughes - a polite thank you from William, enthusiastic, sticky hugs from Maggie, and sheepish apologies from Eddie for the disarrangement to the linen closet. They would all be leaving within the week.

"Something wrong, Mr. Carson?" Mrs. Hughes asked him as she passed from the kitchen into the Servant's Hall.

"It's too quiet," he grumbled. Spying a shape under the table, he bent down to pick up Eddie's left behind soldier. He put it into his pocket with a thoughtful expression, nodded to Mrs. Hughes, and proceeded up the stairs.

"I'll have to see what I can do about that," she muttered to herself, smiling at his back as he made his dignified exit.


End file.
